Why did I do this
by kaimuki wahine
Summary: For some reason, this day felt special. For some reason, Chell decides to go out and buy herself a cake. After bringing it back to her room, she just sits there, with the cake in front of her and thinks to herself "Why did I do this?"


**Author's Notes:** Yay for rushed stories. Just wanted to write something on my birthday! :D

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><p><em>... Why did I do this?<em>

It was one o'clock in the morning; her room was completely dark saved only by a small lamp nearby. Chell sat silently staring at the object in front of her. It had captured her full attention while she pondered why she brought it.

In front of her was a cake, a Black Forest Cake she had just purchased. Around midnight, she left her apartment and went to a nearby bakery that stays open late into the night and purchased the cake in front of her along with a small pack of candles. For some reason, she had to buy that particular cake. Maybe it was the kind of cake that she was promised long ago, but quickly erased it from her thoughts before she went in too deep. She then carefully carried her package back to her room and placed it on the table in front of her and from there; she just stared at the cake. And pondered.

_Why did I go out and brought this cake? I don't even really care for this kind of cake._

She has been trying and trying to figure out why she brought the cake for the past hour. But all she could come up with is that she had a feeling that today, was a special day for her.

_Why does today feel different from any other day? I know it can't be my birthday or the day I left Aperture. Who am I kidding, I don't even know those dates of my own birthday or when I left Aperture. There were no calendars down there and no one cared to tell me when I was born. Only GLaDOS mentioned my birthday, but I know she was just lying._

Shuddering at the thought of remembering her time in Aperture, testing non-stop just to fulfill the Aperture Science AI Queen's desire of testing.

_Though I can't figure out why this day feels special but,_ soon a smile was made on her face, _I'll just say today is my birthday. Can't let this cake go to waste._

She started cutting the cake to make a slice for herself and decided to slice four more pieces. And set them around her table.

Chell sighed with her hands on her hips as she looked at her setup on the table and thought, _Though I don't have an actual family to share my "birthday" doesn't mean I can forget about those who are important in some ways to me._

She looked to the two plates to the left of her, _Thank you Mom and Dad. Though I don't remember your faces or how I was separated from you and ended up being a test subject in Aperture, I still need to thank you for bringing me into this world._

Then she turned to look at her right, to see the other two slices she cut. _Heh, though you two are the ones I wish to forget after everything you have done, I still need to be thankful. Because of you two, I feel like I am a lot stronger than I was before being in Aperture, though my time before is all a blur to me now. But anyways, thanks… GLaDOS and Wheatley._

Now that she thinks to herself, she had to laugh a little. The two AIs had no way to eat the cake. Heck, when she looked at the four plates in front of her, she felt kind of silly; serving cake to people who are not there to eat it and that she has to end up washing the plates in the end.

So she just ate her cake silence in silence in the room.

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><p>She looked at the clock on the table near her bed and saw that it was already 4am. She had to get up in a few hours to get ready for work. She stared at the cake slices in front of her and decided to leave the four slices on her table out.<p>

_It's cool in here. I think it shouldn't spoil that fast especially it's only for a couple of hours._

With that thought, she picked up her dirty plate and washed it, put the rest of the unserved cake in the fridge, and went to sleep.

A couple of hours later, she woke up. Not to happy that she only got only a few hours of sleep. After fully waking herself, she walked over to the table to put the cake slices away and maybe eat one for breakfast.

She was surprised to find an empty table and the plates all washed. Because she was living by herself, there is no way someone could have eaten the cake and washed the plates.

Still unsure what happened to the four slices of cake that was there on the table just a few hours ago, she walked to the fridge to eat a slice for breakfast before going to work. As she lifted the platter that holds the cake, she felt a piece of paper under the platter.

Chell carefully took the paper and read it.

Written by hand, it said "Thank you for the cake and Happy Birthday Chell." And under that, it was typed. "-From Us."

She was taken aback by how the note was written. She didn't want to believe it was from the people she had intended to serve the cake to. But she didn't care, she was just happy that she wasn't celebrating her birthday alone.

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><p><strong>AN:** Yeah, sorry this was completely rushed because today was my birthday and I was inspired to write a fast story. Whether my birthday is either on the 15th or 16th, you may never know. Time difference is a strange thing (yeah, idk.)

If there are grammar problems, I sincerely apologize. I have a lot of work and projects because its crunch time for my Architecture classes and studio and I have time to proofread my story once. So if it was bad, I am SO sorry! Also I blame my lack of sleep. Running on two-three hours of sleep for a while now.

If you are still with me, here was my alternative ending to this story! I had to endings in mind and I don't know which was better, so yeah, here's my alternative ending.

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><p>*Alternative Ending*<p>

A couple of hours later, she woke up. Not to happy that she only got only a few hours of sleep. After fully waking herself, she walked over to the table to put the cake slices away and maybe eat one for breakfast.

She walked over to the table to see the empty table. She stood there, wondering what happened to the cake slices and who washed the dirty plates. Whoever washed it, Chell was super glad they did it.

Her stomach started growled, demanding that she go and eat the rest of the cake for breakfast. Laughing in agreement, she walked over the fridge where she put the cake in early in the morning. When she reached the fridge door, she stopped in her tracks after seeing a note stuck on the door.

Handwritten, the note read "Thank you for the cake and Happy Birthday Chell! From Us." She stood there surprised and thought back to the people she wanted to serve the slices to. Checking note if there was anything else, she noticed on the back, typed "Haha. The cake was so delicious and moist. We made sure to get rid of it so you won't gain a few more pounds on your birthday."

Automatically, she knew that was GLaDOS. But she wasn't sure what She meant by the last part. But then, she quickly opened the fridge door to find that there was no cake to be found. Chell's mouth opened wide in surprise and anger. She would have yelled and gave a tantrum about why she couldn't eat her own birthday cake but she realized that she was going to be late to work.

Rushing to get herself dressed and out the door, she never realized there was a slice of cake with a single candle on it, waiting for someone to light it.

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><p>So yeah. That's about it. Point out if I made any errors or any edits I should make. I will correct them whenever I can. Thanks for reading my story and sorry if it was everywhere! :D<p>

(Back to work. *Sad Face*)


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